Resurrected By Death

I let the rage show in my hazel eyes as Terrance gave the order, trying to remember how in the hell I'd gotten into this mess. I was twenty four, and already I was not in control of what went on with my life. I looked up at Terrance, who had decided to take a turn playing guard. It didn't matter, I always ignored the guards anyway. I glanced around the van, I was surrounded by vampires, and they all looked hungry. I shivered. Terrance gave me a look a little dirtier than I deserved,

" Don't forget about what put you here. If I'm not around those mother fuckers are gonna drain your pretty ass, and leave you for the local pigs to fucking find. So stop looking at me like I'm the fucking monster for not putting more thought into your accommadations. If you'd perfer to go back, I'm sure they're still waiting."

I managed to look sorry. He didn't know that it wasn't the musty old cabin with no electricity or indoor plumbing that I was taken aback by, and I had no intentions of letting him find out. If I had to be the only human in a house full of fucking vampires, I had to be able to stand on my own. I'd staggered upon those others easily enough and not let the disgust show on my face, so I would just have to manage here too. The only challenge would be Terrance, old and wise enough to read on my face that something was pissing me off already, and we'd just stepped out of the car. I hid a look of inward disgust, and tried not to gag. The stench of sewage was already taking my breath, and I still had to go into that peice of shit cabin with a vampire I wasn't familiar with only on the word of their fangy big boss that he wouldn't rip my pretty tanned throat out. I looked at Terrance with a shiver,

"I'll take dealing with you over those other monsterous fucks, thank you."

"So, you think the only one willing to put up with your pampered ass is a monster," He growled lightly, "A woman as lovely as you, did you not wonder why no other men came forward? Perhaps, I should show you a real monster."

He glanced back at a crate in the back of the van that had almost animalistic cries coming out. I shivered, I still couldn't believe that was a person. Vampire or not, nothing with two legs that stood up fucking right should be able to make that noise, and not be dying. I felt a bead of cold sweat roll down the small of my back at the thought that they intended to let that thing loose in the house like some kind of pet. If it so much as sniffed me, I was gonna punt the damn thing across the room, and Terrance be could deal. I shuffled akwardly into the house, carrying what little luggage I'd been allowed to bring. Which wasn't much, and even though the cabin was two story, it was still small enough to be able to hear through the walls. I could hear the others setting up downstairs. Apparently, only Terrance and I would be sleeping on the top floor, an idea I wasn't too happy about. It was just too damn much like playing house for my comfort, and though he was obviously as unhappy as I was about being stuck in this hell hole together, I kept catching him watching me out of the corner of his eye. I took a good look around for the first time, and stiffled a groan. Let me let you in on a little secret, when the realitor says rustic, she means moldy with a chance of giving of you some kind of wierd lung fungus. The walls were a muddy brown, the carpet was the same sickly shade as the as the grass outside and smelled faintly of moss...or mold, I couldn't quite decide which. It was like standing inside a cave, without as much light. It was like the damn monsters had taken my life without killing me at all. I thought back to a week ago, laying on the beach in my favorite yellow and black plaid bikini sunning myself for the ump-teenth time in a week, and sighed. When this was over, I was going back to the beach in my favorite bikini to soak up all the damn sun my body could take. I had a feeling looking around this place, the sun was going to be about as abundent as snow in Austrailia. I glanced around again and sighed, at least you couldn't smell the sewage outside in here. I couldn't believe it didn't have electricity. Who in this day and age actually still depended on fire for heat and light? It was almost barbaric. I felt my bags lifted from my hands and watched Terrance toss them into a room with a scowl,

"That's your room. It'd be smart not to go roaming around downstairs. I may be sworn to keep you safe, but the others are not."

He slammed the door to his room, and I heard the ruffling of clothes and papers. I sighed. Of all the vampires in the damn world, I had to get stuck with the one that acted like he needed to get laid. It figured, and to beat all, he was probably the only one in the house who wouldn't try to drain me of all bodily fluids...and not even in a way I could appreiciate. I stepped into the door, and could hear him in the other room. He was screaming at somebody, and to be honest, I didn't envy them. Terrance was an asshole, and I would never want to get on his bad side. I'd watched him pick that huge greasy burnette up and toss him across the room like a ken doll. That, I'm not going to lie,had freaked me out just a little. I sighed, at least the room had a fireplace. I wouldn't freeze to death. If I had to die while I was here, I'd rather go out because I'd pissed off the wrong vampire, not because we were in some eighteenth century cabin with no heat. It just seemed like the option that left me a little more pride. My gaze roamed the walls, and I wondered if all the rooms were like this. How did a place this old not have windows in the bedrooms? I mean, with no electricity, had they just wondered around in the dark? I didn't like it already. I hadn't even unpacked, and I didn't like it. It was dark, dank, musty, and there was no where to charge my iPod. I could adjust to life in the hell hole I was stuck in, but to keep my usually sunny attitude, I was going to be in desprate need of music that didn't involve fat chicks in viking helmets singing in italian. Don't get me wrong, opera is great if that's what you're into, but I wasn't going to able to survive on it here. I opened the closet, and noted the two broken wire hangers with a sigh. My clothes were going to get wrinkled in the bag, but as long as there were no bugs or rats I could make do. I tugged the clip out of my hair, and let it fall around my shoulders in long auburn brown waves. I'd finish unpacking later. For now, I wanted to see the rest of the house that I was allowed to be in alone. I wondered from room to room, each was minimally furnished with an old bed, a table, and dresser. They were all the same sickly shade of brown that the den was ,which was the only room in the house with window. It was all rather depressing.

I felt rather than heard him approach. For a vampire that was nearly six and half feet tall, he moved with a strange silence. It seemed wrong to me. He made my heart race, even without seeing him, my hands started to tremble. It was like something in the back of my head was ready, for what I wasn't sure, but ever ready for what was ahead. He glanced around, his eyes settling on me, and scowled. He wasn't any happier to be here than I was, and though I would never admit it outloud, his devilish looks were wasted on someone who was always pissed off. His long black hair shimmered in the candle light like onyx, his eyes like a glittering gold in the paleness of his almost alabaster skin, terrifyingly beautiful were the words that came to mind when I saw him. He had a look in his eyes, like he was guarding his thoughts so tightly it hurt. His movements towards me were graceful, almost fluid, it wasn't until he spoke I realized that I'd been starring. I pasted a scowl on my face equal to his , and told myself this place was dull & dark and I needed something colorful to focus on. It was the only logically explaination I could come up with. He was too dark and brooding to be attractive. I'd been in a car with him for two nights, and not once had I seen him smile. I knew I could be a pain in the ass, but surely my company wasn't that bad. He circled me, like he was trying to decide how much of me to put up with before he locked me in my room for the remainder of the trip. I hadn't even said anything to him yet, so that couldn't be a good sign. I just watched, my eyes a little wide, as he went to stand by the window. I'd only met him three days before, and I couldn't decide if he was just angry or like the others he thought my kind was only good for food. Either way didn't fare well for me. An angry vampire was bad, a resentful one was worse, and I could only hope both would obey orders from his superior or I was a dead woman. He didn't look at me, he stared out the window like he saw something I didn't. But from the look on his face I wished I could, it was the first time since we'd met I'd seen him look anything but rageful.

I glanced over at the doorway hearing a faint scratching on the floorboards, and froze for a moment. I always thought something that would rip out your throat should be hideous. It should steal your breath, and make your blood chill. It should not have scruffy blonde hair and abash itself in front of others of it's kind. It should not look up at you with curious eyes the color of a summer sky. It should not be strangely fascinating to watch scuttle across the floor to rub it's cheek against the ankle of it's leader, and it should not purr slightly when it's leader looks down at it. I stared, not sure whether to shiver or try to pet the damn thing. It was a person, a vampire, but it's maker hadn't quite finished the process, so it had lost almost all it's humanity. It's sole purpose was to protect, to watch out for the nest, like a guard dog. I looked at Terrance almost for reassurance when it came up and started sniffing around my ankles. I didn't kick it in the face, although it took almost all my willpower. It would be like kicking a orphan, and no matter how vicious the orphan might be, I could never do it. Terrance got his twisted version of a smile on his face,

"Any sudden moves will scare him, and even I could not pry him off your tender flesh. I would be most careful. He is the most dangerous of us."

Something in his voice made me move my eyes from the beast in front of me to the one on the other side of the room, only to find Terrance's eyes perched on the crystal that dangled around my neck. I made damn sure to tell myself it was the crystal, and not my neck. I could handle him gauking at my jewelry. I'm not so sure what I'd do if I caught what I'm sure was a hungry vampire staring my jugular. It was odd, even for me. I lowered my eyes back to the beast at my feet, and noticed it on it's side purring at my ankle. This was freaking me out, one vampire was purring on me, and another starring holes into what I could no longer deny was my neck. I think if I'd stood there any longer, the scream that was building in my throat would have come raging out and rattled the walls. It was rattling me to say the least, my hands were shaking as I shoved them into my pockets, and pretended to look through the books on the shelf. I was an avid reader, and even though most of the titles weren't in English, it was a welcome distraction. Terrance came up behind me, and his golden gaze seemed to hold a weight to it. His eyes were on my neck again, and this time all I could do was hold my ground unless I was going to run out of the room screaming. Which again ,if I was going to survive in a house full of vampires, was just not an option. So there I stood with the gaze of a four hundred year old vampire fixed on the right side of my neck, and tried not to take that step back that my body was dying for me to give in and take. It was there, in the race of my pulse, and the shaking of my hands. I can't tell you how long I stood there, shaking like a leaf, before I actually looked around. It was like the violence was so sudden that my brain just refused to recognize it, because suddenly, the old oak bookshelf was in pieces around me, and Terrance was standing on the other side of the room trembling slightly. I looked around again. What the hell had just happened? That was when I noticed it, that faint metallic smell that blood has, and saw the splinters in his hand. Would the smell of his own blood send a frenzy through the others? I really hoped not. I'm pretty sure an oak door wasn't going to stop him by the looks of that book shelf. I stood for a long frozen moment trying to decide if running would even be worth the effort. It wouldn't be. Vampires are insanely fast. If you've never met one, it's like trying to out run a cheetah on steroids. Even though I hit the gym about five days a week, the effort would still be futile.

He glanced in my direction again, eyes blazing. I couldn't imagine what must've been going on in the mind behind them, and even as I saw him racing toward me, my mind couldn't go that fast. It was a surreal blur. A sharp pain and the world went black.

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I blinked awake slowly, looking around the room to find the same dull, muddy brown walls and what was unmistakably the same moldy smelling carpet .What the hell had happened? Images flooded my mind, the blur of Terrance speeding toward me, a sharp sting, and the bloody carpet. I dismissed the other images as ridiculous. There was no way in the fiery bowels of hell, I'd done that with him. I looked down at my watch, and almost fell backward. Why in the hell was I so pale? I must not have eatten in a while. I pulled the blanket off my...wait a minute, this wasn't my bed. The bed in my room was an ugly off white, and this was oak with a satin cover on it...where in the hell...and then I saw it. The entire room spun, and I was convinced I had to be in a bad episode of The Twilight Zone. There was the bloody shirt Terrance had been wearing the last time I'd seen him, and there were my jeans laying beside it in what looked like at least three pieces. He hated me. I just couldn't see him attacking me and then lazily lick around my belly button. Although, that was one of the images I had dismissed as impossible. I slid my feet to the floor, and glanced at my watch again. I had to be seeing the damn thing wrong! According to my watch, I'd been at the cabin for almost four days. I didn't remember anything past the first night, and even some of that was blurry. Like it should have been something out of a movie, not something my brain was trying to keep my from remembering for my own sanity.Suddenly, it all came together. It's hard to say what makes us piece things together when we do, but in an instant my hand flew to my neck. I suddenly remembered the pain, the sharp piercing pain in the side of my neck after he lunged for me. I fumbled for the door, it was hard to believe someone as vain as Terrance didn't have a mirror in his room. I mean, he spent more time primping than I did. I pulled my hair back, which I would have to wash, because it was matted with blood, and saw the marks. They were there, two shiny scars from where he'd bitten me. I was staring at the scars so hard, I almost didn't notice the changes in myself. When I did, it took me a minute to realize what had happened. The paleness and burning in my throat weren't enough to convince me at first. I shook it off as maybe he'd overfed, and had forgotten to feed me in the process. I know what you're thinking, I'm either stupid or stubborn. And yes, I'm as stubborn as the day is long as my mom would've told you. It seems to run in the family cause she was the same way. But I was not so deluded that I didn't go looking for what I would soon be calling my own personal Devil. I was seething by the time I left the bathroom. Who in the hell did he think he was? He was supposed to defend me not defile me, and this had crossed a line.

I was pissed enough that I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, and before I knew it my feet had taken me where my mouth wanted to be, which was right behind Terrance. I noticed that I was again surrounded vampires, and they hadn't even glanced in my direction this time. It should have concerned me more than it did, but when I'm that mad I seem to have a one track mind that leads only to the one I'm pissed off at. Without thinking, I grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to face me. I froze. How in hell had I done that? I couldn't even move fast enough to keep him from biting me, how in the hell had I just moved him? He looked me over, a little less irritated, and a little more amused. I had the strangest urge to pull him out of the crowded basement, pull him around me, and beg him to bury himse...I stopped the thought. His face, that was it, I wanted to punch him in the face in front of them all. I resisted. I still wasn't willing to admit what was going on, and I was mildly aware that probably only he would tell me. His golden gaze roamed over me again, I squirmed, and I wasn't sure why. I didn't like this. These duel feelings were going to have to give, and I wasn't sure which side I was on. Part of me wanted to remember what had happened and do it again, the other wanted to remove him from the planet for taking advantage of what had obviously been a very wierd situation. He nodded to the others, and suddenly the crowd was clearing.

I glanced around, I was still just not feeling this weirdness. I was a good time girl, I worked at a bar, and got paid to dance on it. Or at least I used to, then I'd stumbled across a couple of vampires draining the life out of another waitress in the parking lot. I knew I shouldn't have stayed that late, but we all did it. My attention was suddenly called back to reality by fingertips running down my face. I froze, he'd never looked at me like that. Like I was some fallen angel sent to save his soul from wondering alone. I was no angel. I knew as he crushed me against him in a kiss that sent every rational thought packing, that I had to be possessed. It was some other woman who wound her arms around his neck, and sunk into the kiss I knew I was supposed to fight. It was definately some other woman who ripped his shirt in half and ran her hands over his rock hard abs. It went that way for a while, until we both ended up wrapped up in a sheet in the basement floor, covered in a light veil of sweat. I was dreaming, or at least that's what I told myself. Because there no way in hell I was laying in the floor while Terrance slowly licked his way up the small of my back. I had to admit, if delusion was so grand, who was I to argue? The tip of his tongue slid over my neck, and I couldn't help moving against him. Every delicious lick and movement convinced me even more that I had to be dreaming. That was it, I'd hit my head, and was living in a fantasy where I got to discover all the promises of those devilish eyes. I was not laying in a bed in an eighteenth century cabin covered in silk sheets, being made to feel soft and delicious by what had to be the devil himself. So I enjoyed it, I mean, it was my dream, and if was going to dream it, then I should allow myself to indulge in the nefarious situations my mind came up with, shouldn't I? It only seemed right.

He woke me with the ends of his fangs running over my hip with a look in his eyes that said he'd been letting me live in delusion, and that after two nights he couldn't let it go on. I frowned. If this was my dream, and I didn't want to have any akward conversations, I could just make him want to have sex again, right? I let my eyes flutter shut, let out a purr, and tried to pull his lips to mine, but he pulled away. Well, that wasn't what I wanted. I tried again, and was a little more deflated when he sat up, leaving me laying alone.

"Lily," He gave me a look that clearly said playtime was over for now, "You have to meet the nest. They are you're family now. It's time for you get aqquainted with your new life."

I didn't want to. It was my dream, and I wanted to have sex again. I told him so. He gave look that said he felt sorry for me.

"Dream? What the hell are you talking about?" He pushed my hair away from my eyes, "Lily, This this is not a dream."

I was baffled. People don't tell you're not dreaming in coma dreams. Not that I've ever been in a coma, but I'm pretty sure they don't. If they did, it wouldn't be a very good dream, and so far this had been an excellent dream. I didn't want it to end now. So I tried to take the dream back in the direction I wanted it to go. I settled myself in his lap, and started kissing him like he'd kissed me a couple days ago. He buried his hands in my hair, and for a moment I thought I'd gotten my way and the dream was back on track. I was purring again, and then his fingertips brushed my hips. He took all his strength, and pressed me against the bed until his nails dug into my sides. I sucked in a breath. That fucking hurt. In dreams, sex didn't hurt. It felt good. I sighed, and looked up at Terrance in defeat,

"It's really not a dream?"

"No," His grip on my hips loosened a little, "Why would you think this was a dream?"

"It's the only thing that made sense," I slowly opened my eyes,"But then again if I was going to dream all this, I guess I would've at least put us in a clean house with electricity."

He looked at me, searching my eyes for the answer I'd avoided,

"Why did you think you were dreaming?"

"You hate me," I sighed,"You think I'm a high maintance, pampered, pain in the ass," I knew he'd get pissed off, but he'd asked, "I figured the last couple of days had to be some kind of delusion. It's the only way it could've happened."

He went quiet above me, his hands impossibly still on my hips. The thoughts behind those golden eyes were flying.I was a damn vampire for crying out loud, and I still didn't see it coming. My whole body was suddenly crushed against him, his fingers woven roughly through my hair, his eyes burning into mine,

"If I hated you, I would have left you to fucking die. I was in agony that night. I hadn't fed in days, they'd made sure of that. I wasn't supposed to turn you, I was supposed to fucking drain you."

I went still, they'd starved him so he'd attack me. You think of all the dirty underhanded shit people do, and they still managed to catch you off guard. I looked up at him with wide eyes,

"So why did you? I mean, aren't they going to find out that I'm still alive?"

He looked at me for a long moment, then leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. If you'd told me three days ago, I was gonna get a kiss like that from Terrance, I would've pointed you toward the local asylum. He did have a knack for finding ways to distract me when he didn't want to answer me. I'd learned that too over the last couple of days. I swear the man could kiss me into a stupor, and by the end of it I usually didn't even remember I'd asked him anything. It was a tactic I was to going to have to try myself one day. He kissed me with a rough pull of my hair, and rolled off the bed. I bit my lip, and grinned...on the inside anyway. This was probably the first time in two days either one of us had put clothes on. If I'd had my way and my dream delusion had survived, It would have continued that way. I was pulling on a pair of jeans when I realized, he'd ducked my question. Why had he turned me if he was sent to get rid of me? What was the man who'd sent him to me going to do when he found out I was still alive? I glanced down at my pale skin, well, so to speak. My thoughts were interupted by something rubbing against my ankle. I reach down and ruffled it's blonde hair. I still didn't get how someone would half turn someone. Apparently, my thoughts showed on my face, because Terrance whispered an answer as he walked by,

"They do it on purpose. They use them for punishment."

"Punishment? Does this one have a name?" I looked down at it's sunny blue eyes.

"I'm not sure really. He can't talk anymore. So there's no way to find out. They say they become like an animal. No emotions, just instict. I'm surprized he didn't try to eat you when you were human," He pulled a shirt out of the closet, and slid it over his head.

I was kind of surprized by that too. I slid a tank top over my head, and stood in front of the mirror. I hadn't really looked at myself since the night I'd first woken in Terrance's room a couple of nights ago. My eyes were different. Lighter almost. Like they'd been struck by lightening and the color had stuck. It was an eerie color, and my skin was the same pale alabaster as Terrance's . I looked a little alien to myself. I guess I would until I adjusted to the difference. I felt a set of hands pull me away from the mirror and lead me into the hall way. I'll admit I was nervous. Terrance had risked something to turn me, and I kind of felt like it'd all be for nothing if none of the others could stand me. I saw a few faces I knew. Like Karem, with his shoulder length blonde hair and green eyes, there was Duke, with the greasy bowl cut, and of course, Terrance. I was just glad none of them could try to eat me this time, that had been a little nerve wracking last time. I mean, imagine knowing everybody in a room wants to eat your throat out, and see if your pulse doesn't speed up. It was less nerve wracking, but that didn't make me any less nervous. Duke hated me, and he'd made that clear when he'd nearly let those trecherous leeches get me in Calafornia. Duke didn't get guard duty after that. He was part of the nest though, and I guess everybody's got people in their family they don't like. I felt a tug at my hand, and suddenly found myself behind Terrance. He sounded like he was growling. I glanced around him and froze, there stood the vampires I'd caught back home. It was like a nightmare standing right in front of me. Their eyes were a dull greyish color, their skin sallow, and their lips stained a light red, I couldn't imagine anything more ghoulish in my own mind, and didn't care to try. My nightmares were full enough these days, and I'm not sure my head could take much more terror. I actually didn't fight with Terrance over pushing me behind him. I knew when I was beat, and these things could've , as Terrance had once said, drained my pretty ass, and left me for the locals before I could've scrambled across the floor. It was the only time in my life I allowed myself to play coward.

I watched in disbelief as the entire nest surrounded them. I'd never seen anything like it outside of a movie. It was like the moment when the crowd turns around, and you see them all rush to the hero's aid. Not that I would ever call myself a hero as I stood cowaring behind Terrance in the dank, mossy smelling basement, because hero's don't hope that the bad guys just can't get past the others. I was desprately clinging to that hope, as I heard the sound. Almost a gurgling sound, and pried my eyes away from the nape of Terrance's neck to peek and see what was going on. There they laid, it looked like someone had ripped away a huge chunk of the hideous ones throats. The floor was covered in blood, like some sick version of the Nile. The scene was grusome. It was like a frenzy had hit them all. I watched in soft horror as I heard the meaty squealch of seven sets of fangs sinking into the same body. His legs were in seperate corners of the room, and his arms were slung carelessly out of the way. I guess eight against two wasn't exactly good odds for the other vampires. The other one had bloody knubs were his legs had been, and his throat was slit from ear to ear. I shivered,and ran my hand along my own throat. I couldn't help it, and I knew it was fine, but after seeing something so grusome sometimes you just have to check. I watched with growing awe as four of them lifted the two bodies into the air and moved them outside to a cage.I couldn't help noticing the scruffy blonde hair that met them at the cage door. I watched him, and the three others all take an arm or leg and go their own way in the cage. It was feeding time, and the reverents were solitary creatures by nature. I let my eyes roam the basement. I tried to overlook the blood soaked spots of the carpet. Oddly enough I was hungry, and I was fighting not to go join them. I lnoticed Duke was out cold, but not drained or dismembered. Which I have to admit, part of me found disappointing. I mean, he had probably let the nasty fucks in who were trying to kill me. I watched him drug to a part of the basement that was out of veiw and heard a door shut. My eyes found Terrance as he turned to look at me finally,

"We take care of our own."

And again, everything came together. That's why he'd turned me. He knew the others in the nest wouldn't let anything happen to one their own, and in his mind it was the ultimate protection. It hit me as the nest spread back across the room once again, that they looked at me like I was suddenly less interesting. The action was gone, so I was normal here. I'd never been normal anywhere. I was pulled against Terrance, and I knew this time it wasn't because we were under attack. It was because I was home, and finally in death I'd found something to live for.